Remembering the Long Days

I promised to show some of you my pics from Iceland. (The cheapest one-way plane ticket from KC to Europe happened to be to Iceland. Then 4 days later I took a separate flight--that only allowed ONE suitcase--to Copenhagen.) I was there for the Summer Solstice, and now as we approach the Winter Solstice and the sky turns a deep midnight blue at 4:30pm, it's time to share (and reminisce)...

As we descended onto Iceland, I pretended this little chunk of land was the whole island (more exciting that way). Really it's just a small peninsula but hey, it works! Coming from Kansas, I had this weird sense of claustrophobia knowing I was on a somewhat small island, for most of the trip.

 Landed at 11:30pm. Not quite the Midnight Sun, but a couple hours later it was still/again light out.

 The next day was their National Day! I must admit I missed the festivities though, since we had gone out and experienced Reykjavik's bizarre nightlife the night before..

These are my LOVELY Couch Surfing hosts, Julien and Claudia. French and Italian, respectively. The airport bus driver drove me right up to their doorstep (instead of the bus stop, a 20-minute walk away- what a nice guy!). I felt guilty that Claudia was waiting up for me at 1am on a weeknight, until she asked me if I wanted to go out... So we went to some very hip bars and met a bunch of Claudia's friends.

I got  no pictures of said nightlife, but maybe this will paint one for you. Between the hours of 1am and 7am at your average, everyday Reykjavik bar: Guys wearing full-out suits, pushing and shoving like nobody's business, very interesting outfits, fun music, breaking beer bottles and glasses all over the place but it's so normal that nobody even looks up...

Oh, Scandinavian buildings!

The continental rift! The picture-perfect, "no-man's land" paradise between the North American and European plates.

 Me at the rift! Luckily there was a Bostonian also traveling solo, on his way back to the US. We awkwardly took pictures of each other at all the stops of our tour that day. What a bond we shared!

 Just a neat picture.

"Gullfoss" was quite amazing!!

 I hate to say it Dad, but Geysir is a little more entertaining than Old Faithful because it goes off every 5-ish minutes.

Giving several opportunities to time it just right to get these shots:

Those two pictures and their medium-low quality make me miss my good 'ole digital Canon Rebel. This is a shout out to the dirty camera thief,  possibly AKA my loser hostel roommate... If you are reading this, I hope you are enjoying MY camera. Or the measly couple hundred (dirty) bucks you sold it for. I'm sorry that your dad didn't get you your own of those for your 18th-birthday-Christmas-2005-high-school-graduation-Christmas-2006-and-19th-birthday gift. I guess you needed it more than I. Hope you enjoyed the pictures of me and my friends in Copenhagen, Göteborg, Malmö, and Paris that you also STOLE. I don't need the pictures of Göteborg anymore anyway. Just enjoy the pictures and never come here, please!

Back on track, here is the infamous Iceland volcano Kifoea;dsfjkanjdh!!!

JUST KIDDING! Not sure that pic has any significance. Did you fall for it?

 One of the many sweet kitties running loose in the city! These cats all (mostly?) have owners, but they just use the whole city as their back yard. They're mostly friendly and sweet! (PS. This picture was taken in the dead of the night. Isn't that so cool?!)

 Blue Lagoon, the must-visit spa-type place. It was extremely relaxing, and right on the way to the airport. I didn't hang out with anyone though so if I go again I will make sure it's with someone else and we can make the most of the swim-up bar.

A lot of that region just looks like this:

Remember the one suitcase rule? There was also a 44lb limit, INCLUDING carry-on. So, I got 2 regular bras, a couple sports bras (to flatten it out, making room for the rest you know), then over 20 shirts and ranked them strategically from tightest to loosest, and topped it off with a triple-jacket-combo and 2 scarves. Margo had already helped me practice the drill while packing...

I went in the bathroom at the Keflavik airport to put on my outfit. When it got too hot and stuffy in the stall, I went out in the open so as not to faint. Then I noticed a security camera. That put me on-edge until take-off, because it must have looked really suspicious. The funniest part of all is that they hand-patted me at security. They felt all my extra inches of fabric rolls and saw how over-stuffed but somehow boobless I was, and didn't even get suspicious.

Here are a couple shots half-way through my dressing. You can see I've already put on a few pounds in the first picture...

 Look at all those straps!! My face = relaxed from the Blue Lagoon.

The whole experience was probably dangerous to my health, but I took all those layers off right after security. Almost seemed like a waste, but it gave me something to laugh to myself about!